Commonwealth assistance enabled Sierra Leone to keep crucial services running - new report

Since the mid-1960s Sierra Leone has been through five military coups and an armed conflict, which lasted just over ten years.

In April 1999, the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group, known as CMAG, consequently called for a Commonwealth Action Plan to support the government of Sierra Leone in its post-conflict recovery.

This plan, which was implemented from 1999-2005, targeted three priority areas including, diplomatic and political initiatives, support for democratic processes and institutions and support for reconstruction of the public sector and public services.

A recent Commonwealth publication - Evaluation of the Commonwealth Secretariat Programme of Assistance to Sierra Leone 1999-2005 - assesses the effectiveness of this plan.

Assistance was provided through long-term experts, short-term advisors, workshops, publications and training programmes, election observer missions, and assistance to establish small and medium enterprises.

Running key government services

Findings of the evaluation show that the assistance enabled the government in Sierra Leone to keep government services running in areas where there were critical human resources shortages. For example, in the judiciary, judges, legal advisors and prosecutors were all provided.

A total of 667 civil service personnel attended training programmes funded by the Secretariat, in order to help improve their efficiency in delivering essential services.

“The support was concentrated in those core administrative areas required to re-establish government authority and the rule of law,” writes the author of the report, Isla Paterson.

The Secretariat also helped prepare three draft laws, namely the Companies Act, Customs Regulation and the Stock Market regulations and contributed to reforms by supporting diagnostic studies in Customs and Excise, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Trade and Industry.

Support was given to the police, judiciary, the anti-corruption commission, the customs authority, and the Ministry of Finance.

Additionally, the Secretariat assisted key gender and youth programmes by providing technical expertise to ensure the nation’s first poverty reduction strategy was engendered and to help the newly created Ministry of Youth develop its first National Policy for Youth.

Kick-starting the economy

To help kick-start Sierra Leone’s economy, the Secretariat also provided equipment to Sierra Leone in conjunction with technical advisors and training, to establish 13 small and medium-scale enterprises (SMEs). This equipment included six oil palm mills, cashew nut, cassava and wood products and a small-scale refined salt facility.

By December 2006, two businesses – a wood processing plant and a cashew processing plant - were operating and contributing to local incomes.

The report also highlights the reasons for the failures of the Action plan but notes the need for the Secretariat to continue providing assistance to Sierra Leone for at least the next three years before re-assessing the plan’s design.

It recommends changes that could be made to any future programme of assistance and calls for greater cooperation with the government’s Development and Assistance Cooperation Office to allow greater monitoring of its assistance.

The report also discusses good practice approaches to development assistance in pre- and post-conflict situations. It offers some lessons on designing an effective response to post- conflict assistance and discusses the Secretariat's capacity and comparative advantage in providing assistance under such circumstances.

Key Links:

• Country Profile: Sierra Leone